Automobile door locking structure



Jim@ 24, 1941. E QDALL 224,75

AUTOMOBILE DOR'LOCKING STRUCTURE Fild March l5, 1940 2 Sheets-She't l .Fume MW il.. E. D. DALL AUTOMOBILE DOOR LOCKING STRUCTURE Filed Marh 15, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 "0 namen .aan

Patented Jane 24,]1941 AU'roMoBnn noon LOCKING "srnuo'runa Edward D. Dall, Detroit, Mich., assigner toHoudame-Hershey Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a

corporation oi Michigan Application March 13, 1949, serial 10.323312 3 Claims.

I My lnvention'vrelates tolocking structure for automobile doors and was designed more par- Iticularly for use on a vertically swinging 'door but can be used `with equal advantage on other types of doors.

Lock structures -have been provided for the upwardly swinging door of the trunk or baggage compartment at the rear end of an automobile body but with such prior locking structure the door soon became loose enough for longitudinal and' transverse movement or oscillation and also up and down movement, `causing the door to rattle and become noisy during travel of the vehicle. Furthermore, with such prior locking structures, it was possibleto insert a tool between the door edge and the sill and the door pried aw'ay :from the sill sufficiently for release of the latch or locking bolt for unlawful entry.

In the case of doors on the convertible top or touring type of automobiles, where a doorway is not connected across the top by a body part, the

doorway may spread under strain of travel of the vehicle so `,that the latch orv lockbolt will not properly engage to hold the door securely closed l against rattling.

The important obj ect of my invention is to pro- Vide sim-ple and improved locking structure, prefshowing, the latch bolt'in cocked position and entering the keeper when the door is swung to closed position. Y

On Figure 1, A represents the car body and B the tnmk compartment door hinged at its upper edge to the car body by suitable hinge struc' l ture C.

The lock structure on the door. comprises a plate Ill having the ange II at its lower end. Secured to the outer side of the flange to extend crosswise thereof is a rectangular oblong cup shaped lhousing l2 which houses the latch bolt I3. The latch bolt is of V--shapev to provide a latching leg I4 and a setting leg I5. The bolt is rockable ony a pin I6 secured at its ends to the' ange II and the outer wall oi thehousing I2.

Securely aixedin ,the sill Il below the door is a keeper element I8 of U-shape cross section whose Vone `liange I9 is straight but whose other flange 20 is deflected inwardly to provide a latching abutment-2l for cooperation with the latch bolt when the door is swung to its closed position for passage of the housing I2 into the keeper element. When the latch bolt is-in unlatched or erably of the rocking latch bolt type, so designed that the latch rbolt will cooperate with the keeper to hold the door at all times snugly closed against noisy movement, 'andalso to prevent the door from being pried away from the sill for unlawful opening thereof.

The various features of my invention are in-' corporated in the structures shown on the draw--V ings, in which drawings: f

Figure 1 is a rear elevation oi an automobile body showing a trunk or baggage compartment door to which my improved locking. structure is Y applied;

gure 2` is a front elevation of the lock vstruc-h ture on the door and the keeper structure o'n the door frame;

cocked position as shown on Figures 4` and 8, the latching leg of the `bolt will be wit 'n the housing and the setting leg I5 will exten diagonally a distance from the housing, and when the door is swung toward its closed position as indicated on Figure 8, the setting leg I-5l of the bolt en-A counters the latching abutment 2| on the keeper and the bolt will be rocked intoits latching position 'shown on Figures 2, 3, and?. When the `door is swung open after release of the latch bolt, thelatch'bolt will be returnedv to its unlatching or cocked position.

Figure 3 ls a. section on plane III-111 Figure zshowing the locking structure in laaiiicbins position; l

Figure i `is a sectional View similar to Figure 3 showing the latch bolt in unlatching orcocked position;

Figure 5 is a section on plane V V Figure 2; Figure 6 ls a' top view of the keeper element; Figure 7 is a section onplane VII-V11 `Figure 2 showing the latch bolt in latchlng position; and

Figure 8 is a section similar to Figure' .7 but Means in the form of outer and inner holding members 22 -and 23 are provided for holding the' latch bolt in either .its cocked or latchng position. The latching members are in the Iormof plates engaging with their rear edges against the plate I0 and are further guided for lateral movement on the flange II by a guide post 24 on, the4 ange andextendingthrough longitudinally extending slots 25 in the holding members.

The latch bolt has an arcuate lug 26 extending inwardly through an arcuate slot 21 in lthe ange I I, the lug and the slot being concentric with the rocking axis of the latch bolt. A spring 28 Aanchored on the' flange Il." engages against the outer end of the lug 26 andvtends to rock the latch bolt to its unlatched or cocked position shown on Figures 4 and 8. .The holding members 22 and 23 have forwardly extending wings 29 and respectively l'and when the latch bolt is in its mnatchingnbr cocked position the side edges of these wings will be held against the arcuate outer side of the bolt lug 26 under pressure of springs. and 32 bearing against the ends of the holding members as clearly shown on Flgure 4 and this engagement of the holding members with the latch bolt lug will "assist the spring 23 in holding the latch bolt in its unlatching or cocked position.

When the door is swung into 'closed position for engagement of the latch bolt with the keeper and rocking thereof into latching position.' the inner end of the lug26 will clear the holding members so that the springs may shift these holding members laterally for engagement of their wings 29 and 30 behind the latch bolt abutment to hold the latch bolt in its latchlng position. The outer edges 33 and 3d of the outer and inner holding members 22 and 23 respectively are inclined to provide cam surfaces, and 20 when the latch bolt is rocked toward its latching position when the door is swung to closed position. these wedging surfaces will engage with the inner end of the bolt lug 26 and exert wedging prmure thereagainst so as to force the latch bolt around for its nal latchlngI movementl until the door is securely closed against its seat. One holding member with a long wedglng surface might be employed. but it .is more practical to employ two holding members as shown and to yhave the Wedging surfaces thereofl engage successively with the'bolt lug. In the arrangement shown, the wedging surface 34 of the inner hold- Y ing member is a distance behind thewedging surface of the outer holding member when these holding members are in their outer positionnso that when these holding members are released when the latch bolt is swung toward latchlng position, the wedging surface 34 of the inner holding member will first engage with the lug 2i and then the wedging surface 33 of the outer V holding member will come into wedging `engagement with the lug, as clearly shown on Figure 3. Compressible sealing strips are usually provided on the seat of an.- automobile door and, with the latch bolt arrangement shown, the Wedging action exerted against the latch bolt Will force the latch bolt arolmd' the latching abutment of vthe/l keeper so as to hold the door-securely seated against the sealing material and to take 41p any slack and to holdthe securely closed, and sealed. When the l h bolt is thus held securely in its latching position by engagement of the latch bolt leg I4V with the keeper abutment 2|, the latch bolt housing I2 will be seated against the ilange I9(of the keeper and the door will'th be securely held against lateral movement or oscillation on the door sill when the vehicle is in service. 4

Provision should also be made to hv d the door securely tothe sill I1 so' that the d or cannot be pried open by the insertion of a t l between 'the door lower edge and sill. I have therefore the bolt is rocked intolatching engagement with A 5 up from the sill for withdrawal of the latch bolt from the keeper and unlawful opening of the door. The boltieg I4 may be beveled adjacent to the recess 35 as indicated at 3l so that it may readily engage under the keeper lip 36 and exert more or less ,camming or drawing action as the door is moved toits nally closed position to thus draw the door down toward the sill and hold the door against longitudinal displacement or oscillation during service of the vehicle. Thus my improved locking structure will hold the door securely against its sealing seat and will also hold it against lateral or longitudinal shifting or rat- -tling when the vehicle is traveling.

Describing new the means Afor releasing the latching structure for opening of the door, a releasing lever 36 is fulcrumed on a post 39 `ex-v tending from the plate ill. At its lower end, the

' lever is deected to form an abutment d0 for engagement with the foot 4l formed by deilecting the end. of the inner holding member 23. Above the lever 38 a roll-back is confined between the .plate Ill and a cover plate 43 and is mounted on a spindle M to the outer end. of which is securedI a door handle 65. When the door is latched shut and .the latch bolt is held in its latching position by the holding members 22 and 23, the foot. of the holding member 23 will be alongside of the abutment 4I on the lever 38. Now when the handie 45 is turned in counterclockwise direction, the rollback will rock the lever 38 in clockwise directio'n and the abutment 40 will shift the inner holding member back to its normal position, and when the foot reaches the end of the outer holding member 22 this member will be shifted with 40 theinner member and both holding members and 32y will shift the holding members with their wingsln engagement with the outer side of the' bolt lus' 26 to hold the latch bolt in its unlatchlng or cocked position. l

Means are provided Kfor logging the roll-back 42 so that the door handle cannot be operated to unlatch the door. As shown on- Figure 2. a

spindle 46 carries'a detent arm 41 which, when the spindle is in its nrmal position. will extend laterally toward the right out of the pathl of an arm 4B on the roll-back so that the roll-back may be operated by the door handle. However, when the spindle 46 is turned to swing the detent or dogging arm" 41 downwardly against a stop 49, the roll-back will be dogged and the handle will be locked' against releasing of the latchlng mechanism. The turning of the spindle 46 is preferably controlled by ,key operable tumbler lock means 5l at the outside of the door, as shown on Figure 1.

My improved locking structure may be advantageously used on the side doors of an automobile to hold the doors snugly seated in closed position and against vertical and longitudinal shift in the door frame. In automobiles of the convertible top or tom-ing type, 'here lthe doorways are not' spanned at the top by automobile bodyparts; my improved lock structure would materially assist in preventing spreading of the doorways the latchlng abutment 2l, the latchlng` leg I4 in 75 I have -shown and described practical and eiliaanwas cient embodiments oi the features o'f my-invention hut l do not desire to be limited to the exact construction, arrangement and operation shown vand described as changes and modifications may he made Without departing from the scope of the invention.

i claim as follows:

l. hooking structure for a hinged automobile door comprising a lreeper at the edge of the door jamie, a rocha-ble latch holt on. the door for entering said keeper when the free edge of the door is inoved to oiosed position,7 a latching abutment on the ireener with which the end of said latch holt cooperates to he recited into tatching ennettement with the keeper for holding the door closed, a earn suriaee on the side of said holt, and a second abutment on said keeper with which said cam surface has cammina pressure engagement when it is recited to latching position whereby the door edge will be drawn toward the jamh edge when the door is closed.

2i Locking structure for the hinged door of an automobile comprising a keeper member extending transversely of the door jamb, a'housing extending transversely of the free edge of the door for enteringsaid keeper when the door is swung to closed position. a latching abutment keeperand tending to rock said holt in engagement with said abutment to torce and to hold the ing arm, and spring pressed means edective to on said keeper, a latching bolt rockable in said o housing for engagement with said latching abutment to be rocked thereby into latchng position to hold the door against opening movement, spring-pressed wedge means engaging said bolt after latching engagement thereof with said door fully closed, a cam formation on the side of said bolt, and a second abutment on said keeper with which said cam formation has camming pressure engagement as said bolt is forced to latching position whereby said door will he drawn toward the jamb and separation oi the door ede away from the jamh prevented. i

3. Locking structure for the hinged door` oi an automobile comprising a' lreeper havingl a side Wall extending transversely oi the edge of the door jarnb, a housing extending transversely oi the free edge of the door for entering said keeper when the door is swung 'to closed position, a camming abutment on said. keeper side wall. a latch holt having a latching ann, means tor roch ing said holt in said housing for engagement oi the end oi-said latch arm with saidcarnming abutment to thereby latch the door against opening movement, a second abutment on said keeper side wall, a cam surface on the-side of said latchengage said holt after latching movement thereof for forcing said bolt into tight latching engagement with scid camming abutment to hold the door fully closed and for forcing said cam surface into pressure engagement with said second abutment in such manner that the door will be drawn in its plane toward the jamb edge and separation of the door edge from the lamb edge prevented..

EDWARD D. DALI.:c 

